Wild fallow deer are costing the agriculture industry, but information about the populations remains “surprisingly limited”.
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A government inquiry into Tasmania’s wild fallow deer population found deer could cause “extensive damage” to native and commercial plant species.
However, a final report, released on Friday, found the research in Tasmania on the environmental impacts is “surprisingly limited”.
The Legislative Council’s Government Administration Committee ‘A’ Inquiry discovered, while investigating the environmental impact on public and private land, “very limited information” existed about contemporary population density of wild fallow deer.
The report found “the majority of stakeholders agree that wild fallow deer populations have increased overtime and their footprint has moved outside of the traditional ranges in Tasmania”.
That included the World Heritage Area and State Reserves.
Increasing abundance of irrigation schemes appeared to be a contributing factor to the “increase and spread of deer populations”.
Tasmanian fallow deer remain ‘partly protected’ under the Wildlife (General Regulations 2010), which restricts commercial harvesting. The specie is known to be a pest in certain areas across Tasmania.